


Peace and Quiet

by as_with_a_sunbeam



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: 1795, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, New York, Sickfic, headache
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 05:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14229969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/as_with_a_sunbeam/pseuds/as_with_a_sunbeam
Summary: When Alexander goes to bed with a terrible headache, Eliza does her best to care for him while attempting to maintain some peace and quiet in their normally boisterous household--not an easy job with six children all trapped inside on a rainy day.Fluffy hamliza sickfic inspired by a prompt on tumblr





	Peace and Quiet

“On guard, you scoundrel!” Jamie’s voice carried all the way downstairs to Eliza, who had just mounted the steps carrying a tray laden with chamomile tea, a bowl of cool water, flannels, and a headache powder for her poor ailing husband. Jamie must have found a way to amuse himself and his brother despite the rainy day outside, as their four year old was pealing with laughter at whatever game his brother had devised. Stomping footsteps echoed on the hard wood, followed by a thunderous crash.  

“Hey!” Alex shouted, his voice high with outrage. “Watch it!”

Eliza mounted the last few steps and bumped the cracked door to the boys’ room more fully open with her hip. “Hush, boys. You’re making a racket.”  

Jamie froze on the top of a trunk with a wooden sword held out towards his little brother. Books were scattered on the floor behind him; Alex was down on his knees trying to collect them. He must have knocked into the bookshelf while he was chasing Johnny.

“Jamie’s a pirate,” Johnny announced.

“You’re the pirate, blackguard!” Jamie contradicted, hopping down from the trunk and brandishing his sword again.

Johnny squealed and ran towards her. As the little boy hid behind her skirt, she hissed, “Jamie, what did I just say?”

He skidded to a halt and looked up at her with big, innocent eyes. “Sorry, Mama.”

“Papa has a very bad headache,” she whispered. “That last thing he needs is you all galloping about like a pack of wild animals.”

“We’ll be quiet, Mama,” Alex vowed softly, placing the books back on the shelf with care. She smiled at him gratefully, sure he’d do his best to manage his younger siblings. Shooing Johnny back into the room with his brothers, she started down the hallway towards her room.  

The door to the master bedroom was closed, so she had to redistribute some of the items in her arms to turn the doorknob and slip inside. Alexander had drawn the curtains over the window, leaving the room dim, with only a little of the gloomy gray light from outside sneaking through where the two curtains didn’t quite meet. As Eliza carefully placed the tray on the nightstand, she smiled sympathetically at her husband, who had pulled a pillow over his face to block out the light and noise.

“Sweetheart?” she whispered.

A muted grunt came from under the pillow.

“I brought you a powder. Can you sit up?”  

He shoved the pillow aside and gave her a baleful look. “Oh, my head,” he groaned. “I feel like someone is stabbing me in the eye with an icepick.”  

She winced at the image and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed beside him. “My poor darling,” she cooed, soothing her palm over his forehead and letting her fingers tangle in the hair around his temple. His eyes closed and he sighed at the comforting gesture. “Come on, now, sit up and take the medicine. You’ll feel better soon.”

She reached for the cup while he weakly pushed himself into a sitting position. His nose wrinkled at the chalky drink, but he dutifully took a long sip. “Eugh,” he complained, making a guttural sound deep in his throat after swallowing.

“I know,” she assured him. She’d slipped a half dose of laudanum into the water on top of the chalky powder, which likely didn’t improve the taste, but hopefully would help him sleep through the worst of the pain. “I have tea for you to wash out the taste when you’ve finished.”

“Thank you.” His lips twitched upwards slightly, but the expression didn’t last. His eyes squeezed shut and he moaned, leaning his head back against the headboard. “Ow, God.”

She bit her lip, worried at how much pain he seemed to be in, and so suddenly. He’d been fine this morning, eating breakfast at his usual time and playing with the children after reading the Sunday sermon from the paper. Then, this afternoon, just before she’d planned to start dinner, he’d started squinting at the book in his lap and wincing at every giggle and squeal from the little ones, until he finally had to excuse himself to lie down.

When his breathing had returned to a more normal pattern, she asked him, “Should I send for a doctor?”

“No,” he muttered. “I’ll be all right. I just need rest and quiet.”

A delighted squeal from Johnny carried from down the hall as soon as he’d finished speaking, followed closely by girlish giggles. Alexander groaned again at the noise. “I’ll take care of it,” she promised, though perfect quiet in a house filled with six children all stuck inside might very well be impossible to accomplish. “You finish that powder and get comfortable.”

She waited to see him lift the cup to his lips again before she slipped back out of the room. The boys’ room had gone quiet again for now, thanks almost certainly to Alex. Now it was the elder children who were making noise.

“No ribbons,” she heard her eldest son say from Angelica and Fanny’s room.

“Papa wears a ribbon in his queue sometimes,” Angelica replied. “Don’t you want to look handsome for your lady?” Angelica drew out the ‘a’ in lady, and both girls giggled again. They’d both been teasing the poor boy mercilessly ever since he attended his first proper dancing assembly.

Eliza poked her head in to the room. It took everything in her not to snort with amusement at the sight within. The girls had seated Pip at their vanity and were both closely analyzing his curly locks. Fanny had pinned a pink bow at the back. Her son caught sight of her first, and he gave her a long suffering look as he greeted, “Hi Mama.”

“Hi honey,” she replied with a wide smile. “Why, don’t you look handsome?”

The baleful expression he answered with was a perfect duplicate of his father.

“See, Mama likes it,” Fanny argued happily.

“I do,” she assured them, “But you girls need to keep your voices down. Papa’s not feeling well.”

“His headache is worse?” Pip asked.

She nodded. “He needs quiet.”

“Sorry,” Angelica whispered. “We’ll try not to laugh so loud.”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling again as she watched Fanny sneak another bow into Pip's hair while he was distracted. She couldn’t fault the giggling, she granted silently, holding her hand to her mouth as made her way back to the master bedroom.

Alexander had replaced the pillow over his face when she came back into the room.

“Oh, honey,” she sighed, amusement disappearing at the sight of his suffering. She took the pillow off of him and urged him up enough to tuck it back under his head. Dipping one of the flannels in the cool water, she wrung it out and laid that over his eyes instead. “Better?”

He grunted in a vaguely affirmative fashion.

“What were the girls laughing about?” he murmured, relaxing a little as the cool cloth eased the worst of the pain.

“They trapped Pip at their vanity to give him a new hairstyle. He doesn’t seem happy with it. Too many bows,” she whispered with a fond chuckle.

He snorted in amusement, then raised a hand to his brow. “Ow.”

She reached out to massage his temples. He made a contented sound at the gentle pressure. After a few minutes, she eased the pressure, and slowly dragged her hands through his hair, letting her fingernails scratch lightly against his scalp the way he liked.

His hand reached out blindly and felt around the bed until it landed in her lap. She took the appendage in her hands and raised it to her lips, kissing his knuckles tenderly. He sighed and relaxed further into the pillows, his breathing starting to even out as the laudanum did it’s work.

 “Get some rest, dearest,” she said softly. With another kiss to his hand, she went to rise from the bed.  

“Don’t leave,” he yawned, twisting his hand to hold hers. “Lie with me.”

She smiled. The children seemed to be content for the moment, and the servants could easily prepare the afternoon meal without her. She supposed she could rest beside him for a few minutes, until he fell fully asleep. Good to their word, the children had fallen quiet for now. Only the sound of the rain pattering on the window intruded on the silence of the bedroom.

Curling up beside him, she stretched her arm around his torso. He adjusted a little so his head rested against hers. She kissed his jaw tenderly and cuddled him close, content to hold him in her arms until he’d drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick piece of fluffy hurt/comfort I wrote quickly thanks to a prompt on tumblr. 
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading! All feedback very much appreciated!! :)


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